Exploring How Drivers Perceive Spatial Earcons in Automated Vehicles

Abstract

Automated vehicles seek to relieve the human driver from primary driving tasks, but this substantially diminishes the connection between driver and vehicle compared to manual operation. At present, automated vehicles lack any form of continual, appropriate feedback to re-establish this connection and offer a feeling of control. We suggest that auditory feedback can be used to support the driver in this context. A preliminary field study that explored how drivers respond to existing auditory feedback in manual vehicles was first undertaken. We then designed a set of abstract, synthesised sounds presented spatially around the driver, known as Spatial Earcons, that represented different primary driving sounds e.g. acceleration. To evaluate their effectiveness, we undertook a driving simulator study in an outdoor setting using a real vehicle. Spatial Earcons performed as well as Existing Vehicle Sounds during automated and manual driving scenarios. Subjective responses suggested Spatial Earcons produced an engaging driving experience. This paper argues that entirely new synthesised primary driving sounds, such as Spatial Earcons, can be designed for automated vehicles to replace Existing Vehicle Sounds. This creates new possibilities for presenting primary driving information in automated vehicles using auditory feedback, in order to re-establish a connection between driver and vehicle.  CCS Concepts: • Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI) → Interaction techniques → Auditory feedback; •HCI design and evaluation methods → User studies;

How drivers respond to visual vs. auditory information in advisory traffic information systems

“…However, the driver's subjective responses highlight that participants have some reservations about using spatial earcons over existing vehicle sounds in their own vehicle today. For instance, one of their participants mentioned feeling more comfortable with the vehicle's own mechanical sounds instead (Beattie, Baillie, and Halvey 2017). Liu and Jhuang (2012) have carried out a driving simulation study to evaluate the effects of five in-vehicle warning information displays.…”

Developing a Multimodal HMI Design Framework for Automotive Wellness in Autonomous Vehicles

“…In particular, many novel designs explored visualizing health information using interactive light [17], digital assistants [18], ambient [19] and headsup displays [20] in the AV context. Modalities such as auditory [21][22][23][24][25][26], olfactory [27], gaze [28], and tactile [29] interactions have also been applied to improve driving experiences. Due to the prevalence of visual computing, augmented reality and virtual reality display techniques have also been increasingly utilized to facilitate various daily activities in the car, including entertainment [30], working [31], calling [32], etc.…”